A Hovawart can be described as friendly, stable and well balanced. They are intelligent, affectionate and sportive dogs. Hovawarts stay puppy-like for a relatively long time. It is not exceptional for a male to mature only around the age of 3 years.
That’s why they don’t like long and boring training sessions. Short lessons with lots of motivation are the keys to the trade secrets !
They have a strong guarding instinct from the day they are born. They are very attached to their family, obedient, but always with a certain degree of independence.
When they sence danger they sound the alert with their strong barking, but nevertheless they are restrained and don’t bark excessively.
Even if a Hovawart is strongly attached to one person in particular, he is a real family dog and wants to be part of the day to day family life. However, it needs a clear hierarchy, where his place is last in the family, from the very first day. A Hovawart is good with children but both need to learn the rules of the game! A dog should never be left unattended with a child.